Here’s how language works, class:
When the U.S. gives foreign aid to the wretched refuse of the world, it is to help them “improve” their miserable lot. We do it because we love them despite their ridiculous customs and heathen religions. If U.S. firms make millions on the projects, it’s just a happy coincidence, and further evidence that we are blessed by the invisible hand of Jesus—oops!—the Free Market.
When China, or God forbid, Venezuela, spreads it around a little, it is called “rogue aid.” You see, “the goal of these donors is not to help other countries develop. Rather, they seek to further their own national interests, advance an ideological agenda or even line their own pockets.”
The New York Times is brimming with Moises Naim’s illuminating, if Orwellian, nuggets of imperial knowledge today. Don’t read it if you just ate.
BTW: Naim knows a thing or two about responsible lending, with just a couple of strings attached in the fine print. Back in the 80’s, he helped shepherd through an economic “shock therapy” package that sent the Venezuelan masses to the streets, where they were promptly gunned down by the thousands in Venezuela’s worst modern massacre. But it was probably for their own good, or something. We're to ignorant to know the difference.
